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ATOC/GN011 Issue 2 April 2015

ATOC Guidance Note – Emergency Planning - Knowledge, Understanding and Responsibilities

Synopsis This Guidance Note provides advice on requirements with regard to knowledge, understanding and responsibilities for those accountable for emergency planning.

Authorised by

--------------------------------------------------------- James Burt Chair, ATOC Operational Resilience and Security Forum – Emergency Planning Group

Uncontrolled When Printed Supersedes ATOC/GN011 Iss 1 on 01/04/2015 Superseded by RDGGN011 Iss 3 with effect from 02/12/2017 Published by RSSB on behalf of ATOC

ATOC Guidance Note – Emergency Planning – Knowledge, Understanding and Responsibilities

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Contents

Section Description Page

Part A

Issue record 3 Responsibilities 3 Explanatory note 3 Guidance Note status 3 Supply 3

Part B

1 Purpose 4 2 Scope 4 3 Introduction 4 4 Structure 4 5 Legislation, Railway Group Standards and guidance 5 6 Business context and strategy 7 7 Risk management 7 8 Planning 8 9 Crowd management 9 10 Post incident review 9 11 Interfaces 9



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Part A

Issue Record This Guidance Note will be updated when necessary by distribution of a complete replacement.

Issue Date Comments One Two

June 2012 April 2015

Original document Following periodic review

Responsibilities

Copies of this Guidance Note should be distributed by ATOC members to persons responsible for ensuring compliance with the appropriate Railway Group Standards.

Explanatory note

ATOC produces ATOC Guidance Notes for the information of its members. ATOC is not a regulatory body and compliance with ATOC Guidance Notes is not mandatory. ATOC Guidance Notes are intended to reflect good practice. ATOC members are recommended to evaluate the guidance against their own arrangements in a structured and systematic way. Some parts of the guidance may not be appropriate to their operations. It is recommended that this process of evaluation and any subsequent decision to adopt (or not to adopt) elements of the guidance should be documented.

Guidance Note status

This document is not intended to create legally binding obligations between railway undertakings and should be binding in honour only.

Supply

Copies of this Guidance Note may be obtained from the ATOC members’ web site.



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Part B 1. Purpose Railway Group Standard GO/RT3118 sets out requirements in respect of Incident Response

Planning and Management. The associated RSSB Guidance Note GO/GN3518 provides guidance on how to interpret the requirements contained within it. However, while the latter makes various references to the competency of Rail Incident Officers (RIOs), no mention is made of the knowledge, skills, understanding, etc. needed on the part of those responsible for emergency planning within railway undertakings. This Guidance Note seeks to address this absence.

2. Scope This Guidance Note is produced for the benefit of all member organisations of the ATOC

Train Operations Scheme. 3. Introduction Though planning for emergencies is a critical role within a railway undertaking, it is typically

not one which justifies a full time dedicated position and is hence often combined with other roles such as security or fire safety. In some cases emergency planning is integrated within individual business functional units, with each responsible for such arrangements within its own area.

As a consequence, many of those who take on emergency planning responsibilities do so

with limited previous experience. In addition to providing a check list/reference document to support reviews and audits of those already performing emergency planning duties and the associated processes, a key use of this Guidance Note is therefore to assist with a training needs analysis of those new to the role.

It should be noted that this document is intended as a guide only and not as a standard with

which compliance is required. 4. Structure As for any other role, effective emergency planning requires a combination of knowledge,

understanding, skills and behaviours. This Guidance Note sets out those considered key in respect of each of the broad components of the emergency planning role, i.e. applicable legislative requirements and guidance, emergency planning within the context of the business as a whole, risk management, planning and post-incident review. Specific sections on crowd management and interfaces with other organisations are also included.

In some cases reference is also made to specific tasks/responsibilities.



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5. Legislation, Railway Group Standards and guidance Those responsible for emergency planning should be familiar with the requirements of relevant legislation and standards and how they are applied, along with associated guidance, including specifically the following:

5.1 Applicable UK Health & Safety legislation and guidance

a) Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999. b) Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. c) HSE publication ‘Managing crowds safely – A guide for organisers at events and

venues’ (http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg154.pdf). 5.2 Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) and Supporting Documents

a) Understanding of the concept of Category 1 and Category 2 responders as defined within the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 along with their respective roles, responsibilities and duties. Specifically those responsible for this element of emergency planning should:

o participate in relevant meetings, forums or workshops with both Category 1 and Category 2 responders where specific input is required to consolidate interfacing arrangements and exchange of relevant information;

o maintain dialogue with Category 1 and Category 2 responders as appropriate for the mutual development of emergency plans; and

o arrange for company participation in exercises arranged by Category 1 and other Category 2 Responders.

Emergency Preparedness, published by the Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat, is intended to accompany Part 1 of the Act and its supporting Regulations (The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) Regulations 2012) - see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-preparedness.

Emergency Response and Recovery, also published by the Cabinet Office (http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/emergency-response-and-recovery) is a volume of non-statutory guidance which describes the multi-agency framework for responding to, and recovering from, civil emergencies in the UK. It is targeted at all personnel who may become involved in emergencies and aims to develop a shared understanding of multi-agency response and recovery arrangements across responding agencies. It seeks to establish good practice based on lessons identified from responding to and recovering from emergencies both in the UK and internationally and provides the definitive guide to emergency planning within the UK.

5.3 Railway Group Standards

RGS GO/RT3118 – Incident Response Planning and Management and associated Guidance GN/RT3518.


http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg154.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-preparedness

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/emergency-response-and-recovery


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5.4 ATOC ACoPs and Guidance Notes To complement Railway Group Standards, ATOC issues a number of documents for the

benefit of its members. These include operations related topics and address areas where the subject matter falls outside the criteria for inclusion within a Group Standard. They comprise Approved Codes of Practice and Guidance Notes. Those of greatest relevance to emergency planning are:

ATOC/ACOP011 - Joint Industry Provision of Humanitarian Assistance Following a Major Passenger Rail Incident.

ATOC/ACOP016 - Incident Response Duties of Primary Support Operators.

FLU/GN001* - Contingency Planning Arrangements for a Flu Pandemic.

ATOC/GN003 - The Training of On Train Staff in On Train Emergency Procedures.

ATOC/GN014 – Major Incidents – Preparation of Aide-Mémoires for Senior Managers.

ATOC/GN015 - Extreme Weather Arrangements including Failure or Non-Availability of On-Train Environment Control Systems.

ATOC/GN016 - Competence of Train Operator Liaison Officers (TOLOs).

ATOC/GN017 - Competence of Station Incident Officers (SIOs).

ATOC/GN023 – Checklist for Major Incident Response.

ATOC/GN025 – Post Incident Management of Personal Property.

ATOC NR/GN SP01* - Managing the Needs of Passengers When Trains are Stranded.

* Issued jointly with Network Rail

5.5 ResilienceDirect ResilienceDirect is an online private ‘network’ which enables civil protection practitioners to work together – across geographical and organisational boundaries – during the preparation, response and recovery phases of an event or emergency. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 requires that emergency responders cooperate and share information in order to efficiently and effectively prepare for and respond to emergencies and ensure that action is coordinated. ResilienceDirect helps organisations fulfil these duties by supporting the adoption of common working practices and ensuring that key information is readily and consistently available to users. ResilienceDirect helps to facilitate multi-agency collaboration in many ways. Activities include:

sharing emergency plans among Local Resilience Forum (LRF) members and others such as national/sub-national partner organisations and neighbouring LRFs;

maintaining awareness of forthcoming exercises, events and meetings, and accessing related documentation such as agendas and minutes;

sharing situation reports and briefings between local responders, to enable integrated management of events and consistent provision of information to the public;

communicating situation reports to lead government departments and/or COBR, facilitating national coordination/action in response to an incident if necessary;



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gathering and reviewing comments on new policies or plans before publication, and collating lessons learned following events;

managing contact information to ensure a single, up-to-date version of distribution lists; and

issuing news and guidance from central government to local responders via the Resilience Gateway.

Those responsible for emergency planning should be aware of the existence and purpose of ResilienceDirect and consider subscribing to it.

6. Business context and strategy 6.1 Crisis management

a) Understanding the implications of incidents on corporate reputation and how public perception is influenced by the nature and circumstances of and the response to the event.

b) Ability to engage with and influence the senior management team in the development of a strategy to address corporate and reputational impact, specifically in respect of contact with the media. Associated responsibilities include:

o determining corporate roles and responsibilities for the crisis management team, including identification of key stakeholders with whom there should be communication;

o developing a crisis management plan to encompass identified requirements, including how meetings should be structured; and

o ensuring that the relationship between the crisis management team and Gold Command is clearly defined.

6.2 Strategy

a) Ability to determine a strategy for emergency planning that includes: o the engagement of key internal and external stakeholders; o agreeing budgetary provision; o the development and management of emergency plans; o arrangements with interfacing agencies, businesses and other organisations; o arrangements for command and control; o arrangements for crisis management; o identification of training needs and delivery thereof for personnel resources

required for the implementation of emergency plan content; and o determining processes for incident response review and taking forward

lessons learnt. 7. Risk management 7.1 Understanding of safety and operational risk management and the potential consequences

of risk control failures.

a) Principles of railway operations (trains, stations and engineering). b) Principles of health and safety management.



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c) Understanding of how accidents happen – root causal effects. Study of accident investigation reports into rail related accidents and incidents affecting own company and on a national basis.

7.2 Understanding risks to train and station operation specific to the company’s business

operations

a) Knowledge of company train/station operations and interfaces and specifically those that carry risk (stations that are railheads for major events or are prone to overcrowding during peak hours for example).

b) Knowledge of Fleet Engineering Depots including the storage and use of hazardous substances.

7.3 Understanding of Command & Control

a) Knowledge of the principles for command and control (Gold/Strategic, Silver/Tactical, Bronze/Operational), who in the company will undertake these roles in the event of an emergency and how this interfaces with the British Transport Police (BTP) and the emergency services.

b) Understanding the relationship between incident management and crisis management (difference between Gold Command and Crisis Management Team for example).

8. Planning 8.1 Principles

a) Familiarity with the principles of integrated emergency planning, i.e.

o anticipation; o assessment; o prevention; o preparation; o response; and o recovery.

b) Appreciation of the need to include as a core element within emergency plans

provision of humanitarian assistance to those directly affected and how the ATOC Incident Care Team initiative contributes to this.

8.2 Management of emergency plans

a) Ability to engage internal and external stakeholders to identify what type of emergency could occur at the locations involved and what measures are required to i) address the immediate consequences to ensure a safe environment, ii) remove persons from imminent danger, iii) establish a structured response to address the subsequent issues arising and iv) promote recovery and return to normal operations.

b) Ability to develop documented arrangements for dealing with the types of emergency identified above including the roles and responsibilities of personnel at that location.



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c) Arrangements for ensuring that emergency plans are distributed on a controlled basis to key stakeholders.

d) Arrangements for ensuring that emergency plans are exercised and reviewed on a regular basis.

e) Arrangements for the amendment and reissue of emergency plans as and when required.

8.3 Testing and exercising

a) Ability to organise a programme of exercises at all levels to validate emergency plan content and specifically roles and responsibilities within the plan.

b) Ability to determine who will participate in exercises (in consultation with internal and external stakeholders as necessary).

c) Arrangements for personnel to participate in exercises organised by external stakeholders and other railway undertakings.

d) Ability to undertake debriefs with exercise participants and capture issues arising. e) Ability to compile an exercise report, identify actions required and how they will be

closed out, and by whom. 8.4 Training

a) Determination of knowledge and experience requirements and skill levels for personnel undertaking specific roles in emergency plans.

b) Arrangements for the delivery of training courses and maintenance of training records.

c) Arrangements for any requirement for ongoing training and assessments. 9. Crowd management

a) Knowledge of managing crowds at railheads for major public events (such as a sporting fixture or music festival).

b) Knowledge of crowd dynamics at relevant stations on company lines of route and how arrangements are implemented to control access to stations and platforms.

10. Post incident review

a) Ability to undertake a review (jointly with key stakeholders as necessary) into the response to and management of emergencies as implemented in accordance with emergency plans and associated procedures.

b) Ability to produce a detailed report of the review, identify actions required as a result and how they will be closed out, and by whom.

11. Interfaces 11.1 Internal

a) Control Office. b) Senior management. c) Media/comms teams. d) HR.



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e) Incident Care Team manager/champion. 11.2 Network Rail

a) Knowledge of the Network Rail Emergency Plan and the roles and responsibilities

therein (such as the Rail Incident Commander (RIC) and Rail Incident Officer (RIO)). b) Understanding of the command and control structure and how key railway

undertaking roles (such as the Train Operator Liaison Officer (TOLO)) interface. c) Arrangements for sharing of relevant information (emergency plans for example) and

participation in relevant Route Emergency Planning and Coordination Committee (REPACC) meetings.

11.3 Other Transport Providers

a) Understanding of interfacing transport operations both at stations and on adjacent infrastructure (including train, underground, bus and tram).

b) Arrangements to share relevant information (emergency plans for example) and as a possibility to consolidate mutual aid potential.

11.4 British Transport Police (BTP)

a) Understanding of the role of the BTP (including preservation of the scene) and how

they interface with civil police forces in the response to a rail related incident, including in respect of primacy; and

b) Arrangements to exchange relevant emergency information (such as emergency plans) and participation in emergency exercises/workshops.

11.5 Emergency services

a) Understanding of the role of the emergency services in a rail related incident and the command and control relationship with both Network Rail and railway undertaking incident response teams;

b) Understanding of how a major incident site is managed by the emergency service in conjunction with BTP, and how Network Rail and railway undertakings interface; and

c) Arrangements to exchange relevant emergency information (such as emergency plans), specifically in accordance with CCA requirements and participation in emergency exercises/workshops.

11.6 Local Authorities

a) Understanding of the role of the Local Authority in a rail related incident and specifically the services, personnel and facilities that could be made available should such a need arise, including their statutory duties with regard to setting up emergency reception centres;

b) Arrangements for exchanging relevant information, specifically in accordance with CCA requirements, and participation in emergency exercises/workshops; and

c) Establishing specific links between Incident Care Team and Local Authority humanitarian assistance provision.



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11.7 RAIB / ORR

a) Understanding of the role of inspectors from both the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) - including the use of accredited agents - and the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) in the event of an incident in relation to evidence preservation and investigation.

b) Understanding of the legislation and protocol relating to rail accident investigation.
